N-POWER PORTAL TO REOPEN JUNE 17 – MINISTER

The
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, has
advised youths to apply for the Federal Government’s National Social Investment
Programme (N-SIP) which will be reopened on June 27.

Mrs
Ahmed said in Abuja yesterday that the government would scale up the N-SIP to
accommodate more beneficiaries. N-SIP is a Federal Government programme aimed
at reducing poverty and improving livelihoods of vulnerable groups such as
unemployed youths, women and children.

The
programme has so far empowered over 1.6 million Nigerians through its four
components: N-Power, National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Conditional
Cash Transfer, and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme.

She
said that the Ag. President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had directed that the online
portal should be reopened on June 27 to give Nigerian youths the opportunity to
apply for the next batch. Ahmed, however, advised youths to also take advantage
of the opportunity to empower themselves.

“There
is opportunity in the N-Power Programme for employment.

“There
is opportunity in the GEEP for you to get finances to be able to start
businesses.

“Please,
this is real, it is working, join the process and be a beneficiary,’’ she said.

The
minister claimed that the process was delayed initially due to an effort to
eliminate fraudulent applicants and to make the process transparent. She said
that programme had not been able to attain its set target because of the delay
in starting its actual implementation.

“The
deployment and release of funds didn’t start till October 2016 and it is so
because we want to make sure that the programme is planned properly.

“We
want to make sure that each beneficiary has a bank account linked to BVN; we
are targeting the right people, not just people nominated by big people.”

Ahmed
said that the programme was showcased at the 2nd Year Commemorative Event of
the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari on May 29.

She
added that the event, with the theme: “A Smile for Every Nigerian,’’ recorded
testimonies of beneficiaries across the country.

“We
are thanking God for witnessing the confirmation that the work we have done is
actually yielding results.